The High School Scholastic Games continued its 36th Season of broadcasts on Tuesday, February 10th, as WDLW radio presented a rematch between the teams that vied for last year’s county academic championship. Again it was Avon scoring a decisive victory, 400 to 320 points, over Black River High School. The program, now presented on FM 98.9, AM 1380 and wdlwradio.com,’ airs every Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. as part of the station’s “Community Night,” a break in the “Kool Kat” station’s usual role as “the radio home of good time rock and roll." The program is funded by Nordson Corporation Foundation, the Community Foundation of Lorain County, and the Nord Family Foundation.
As most members of last year’s top schools were mostly in the junior classes, the teams were nearly identical to last year. Avon Lake was represented by Jackson Cellura, Isabella Gigliotti, and team captain Mark Carney, who was again awarded the program’s “Standout Scholar Award,” his fourth. The award includes a prize of $60 for the student contributing the most to his or her team. Black River’s team, which won two of the team’s five rounds of questions, was represented by Stryker Charlton, Hunter Holly, and team Captain Josh Adkins.
The first two rounds, saw Black River take the lead with general questions but Avon jumping into the lead with Current Events. A quick third round of “letter words” (sea, queue, owe, eye, etc.) kept the teams within one question of a tie score. It was the fourth round of questions in which Avon won the contest. It is a round in which each answer can yield up to 50 points. A sequence of clues of decreasing difficulty presents clues for 40, 30, 20 and 10 points. Clues about Argentina, science and medicine brought the team a fifty and two forty-point scores, plus one for ten, with no scoring for Black River. Black River actually won the final round, over nine minutes of rapid-fire tossup and bonus questions, by fifty points! However it wasn’t sufficient to cover Avon’s lead from the previous round.
The quiz show invites all public and private high schools in the county to participate each year in a series that presents two academic teams each week, concluding with a county championship broadcast in May. Jim Mehrling has been host and producer of Scholastic Games since its start. He credits Nordson Corporation Foundation, the Community Foundation of Lorain County and Nord Family Foundation for their sustained support, as well as the Elyria Public Library System, which has hosted competitions and sponsored the radio broadcasts for over a decade.
A tuition credit awards program supported by eight area colleges and universities provides a $1000 tuition credit to a student from each participating school to be used in 2027. The institutions include LCCC, Oberlin College, John Carroll, Tiffin, Heidelberg and Ashland Universities, Lake Erie College, and Ursuline College. Playoffs and eliminations comprise the second half of the schedule of the program series, but remaining teams participating in the first several weeks of the program are as listed below, with slight variation from earlier published schedules. All programs are recorded in advance at the main branch of the Elyria Public Library, 2nd St. at East Avenue in downtown Elyria on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with sessions open to the public.
Scheduled broadcasts include:
Feb. 17, 6 p.m —Elyria vs. Firelands recorded 2/8)
Feb. 24, 6 p.m — Midview vs. Olmsted Falls recorded 2/8)
Mar. 3, 6 p.m—Brookside vs. (loser of Midview-Olmsted contest)
Mar. 10, 6 p.m. Elyria Catholic vs. Avon Lake ( to be recorded 2/15)
Mar. 17 through May 19—Playoff eliminations. Pretapings are open to the public but the schedule is subject to change.Pictured left to right: Stryker Charlton, Josh Adkins and Hunter Holly.